by Alex Schwartz

The Kansas Jayhawks were not in the Final Four this weekend, but Bill Self and Co. did get some good news on Sunday anyway. Ben McLemore, a 6'5 small forward out of Christian Life Center (TX), reportedly announced his commitment to Kansas at the NeXt All-American Classic in Chicago. His other finalist as Missouri, which was without a head coach at the time of his decision.

McLemore has been KU's top target for nearly a year and is a major get for the Jayhawks. The #37 ranked player in the NBE Post-Summer Class of 2011 Top 150, McLemore hails from somewhat local St. Louis and was one of the three best uncommitted seniors in the nation. He is an athletic wing with nice upside who could develop into quite a good player down the road.

With the addition of McLemore, Kansas now has a solid two-man recruiting class that features a pair of players ranked in the top 100 of the NBE Post-Summer Class of 2011 Top 150. Along with McLemore, Kansas will also welcome 5'11 point guard Naadir Tharpe of Brewster Academy (NH) next season. Tharpe, a one-time Providence commit, is the #90 ranked player in the 2011 class.

McLemore's commitment to Kansas came as a surprise to no one, but the high-major pledge that happened on Monday certainly was. ZagsBlog broke the news that 6'1 point guard Gary Browne of Arlington Country Day (FL) had popped to Bob Huggins and West Virginia. The commitment seemingly came out of nowhere, as Browne is basically an unknown on the national level, but clearly Huggins and his staff see something in the native of Puerto Rico.

Browne is the second member of WVU's class who was well below the radar prior to committing to the Mountaineers. The other one is Pat Forsythe, a 6'10 center from Brunswick (OH). Those two are just part of a large recruiting class headed to Morgantown, as seven players in 2011 are committed to West Virginia. The others are 5'11 point guard Jabarie Hinds of Mt. Vernon (NY), 6'5 small forward Aaron Brown of Penn Wood (PA), 6'7 power forward Tommie McCune of Saginaw (MI), 6'6 small forward Keaton Miles of Lincoln (TX), and JuCo prospect 6'8 power forward Dominic Rutledge of West Texas State JC (TX). The only ranked prospect is Hinds, who checks in at #89 in the NBE Post-Summer Class of 2011 Top 150.

WVU also briefly had a commitment from #62 ranked Ryan Boatright, a 5'10 point guard from Aurora East (IL). Boatright decommitted when Hinds, also a point guard, selected the Mountaineers just days after he did. Huggins and Co. clearly still wanted another point guard in the class and have found their man in Gary Browne.

The Philadelphia Inquirer was the first to report that Jaylen Bond of Plymouth-Whitemarsh (PA) will not be attending Pitt next year. The 6'7 power forward, ranked #129 in the NBE Post-Summer Class of 2011 Top 150, signed with the Panthers in the early period, but will instead has decided to go to prep school next year. The stated reason, per PantherLair.com, for Bond's decision to move to the 2012 class is that he is still just 17 years and feels that he could use the extra year.

Bond will reportedly reopen his recruitment, but still strongly consider Pitt, to which he committed in April of 2010. Even without Bond, Jamie Dixon will welcome a superb class that his headlined by 6'9 power forward Khem Birch, a McDonald's All-American out of Notre Dame Prep (MA). Birch had previously been in the class of 2012, but opted to move back to the 2011 class. When the last set of rankings were released, he was listed as the #7 player in the NBE Post-Summer Class of 2012 Top 50.

In addition to Birch, Pitt is also bringing in 6'1 point guard John Johnson of Life Center Academy (NJ), 6'6 shooting guard Durand Johnson of Brewster Academy (NH) and 6'11 center Malcolm Gilbert of Academy of the New Church (PA). John Johnson is ranked #110 in the NBE Post-Summer Class of 2011 Top 150, while Durand Johnson—there is no relation—checks in at #147.

Note- photo of McLemore is from http://espn.go.com/ and photo of Bond is from http://www.suburbanonesports.com/